Mystic River (film)
| screenplay = Brian Helgeland | based on = | starring = | music = Clint Eastwood | cinematography = Tom Stern | editing = Joel Cox | production companies = | distributor = Warner Bros. | released = | runtime = 137 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $30 million | gross = $156.8 million }} Mystic River is a 2003 American neo-noir psychological mystery drama film directed and scored by Clint Eastwood. It stars Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney. The screenplay, written by Brian Helgeland, was based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. The film was produced by Robert Lorenz, Judie G. Hoyt, and Eastwood. It is the first film in which Eastwood was credited as composer of the score. The film opened to widespread critical acclaim. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Penn, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress for Harden, and Best Supporting Actor for Robbins. Penn and Robbins won in their respective categories, making Mystic River the first film to win both awards since Ben-Hur in 1959. Plot Three boys, Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine, and Dave Boyle, play hockey in a Boston street in 1975. Spotting wet concrete, they start writing their names into it when a car pulls up with two men, one pretending to be a police officer and the other a priest. One gets out and berates the boys for their actions, and tells Dave to get into the car. The men hold Dave captive and sexually abuse him for four days, until he escapes. Twenty-five years later, the boys are grown and, while they still live in Boston, have drifted apart. Jimmy is an ex-con running a neighborhood store, while Dave is a blue-collar worker, still haunted by his abduction. The two are still neighbors and related by marriage. Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter Katie is secretly dating Brendan Harris, a boy Jimmy despises. Brendan and she are planning to run away together to Las Vegas. Katie goes out for the night with her girlfriends and Dave sees her at a local bar. That night, Katie is murdered, and Dave comes home with an injured hand and blood on his clothes, which his wife Celeste helps him clean up. Dave claims he fought off a mugger, "bashed his head on the parking lot", and possibly killed him. Sean, now a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, investigates Katie's murder. His pregnant wife, Lauren, has recently left him. Over the course of the film, Sean and his partner, Sergeant Whitey Powers, track down leads, while Jimmy conducts his own investigation using his neighborhood connections. Sean discovers that the gun used to kill Katie was also used in a liquor store robbery during the 1980s by "Just Ray" Harris, the father of Katie's boyfriend. Harris has been missing since 1989, but Brendan claims he still sends his family $500 every month. Brendan also feigns ignorance about Ray's gun, but Sean believes it was still in the house. Sergeant Powers suspects Dave as a possible perpetrator because he was one of the last people to see Katie alive. He also has a wounded hand, and although he continues to tell his wife he got it while being mugged, he tells the police a different story—soon Jimmy becomes suspicious of it. Dave continues to behave strangely, which upsets his wife to the point she is afraid he will hurt her. While Jimmy and his associates conduct their investigation, Dave's wife eventually tells Jimmy about Dave's behavior, the bloody clothing, and her suspicions. Jimmy and his friends get Dave drunk at a local bar. When Dave leaves the bar, the men follow him out. Jimmy tells Dave that he shot "Just Ray" Harris at that same location for ratting him out and sending him to jail. Jimmy informs Dave that his wife thinks he murdered Katie and tells Dave he will let him live if he confesses. Dave then tells Jimmy that he did kill someone that night, but it was not Katie; he beat a child molester to death after finding him abusing a child prostitute in a car. Jimmy does not believe Dave's claim and threatens him with a knife. When Dave falsely admits to killing Katie, thinking he can escape with his life, Jimmy kills him and disposes of his body in the adjacent Mystic River. While Dave is being killed, Brendan (having found out about his father's gun during questioning) confronts his younger brother Ray Jr. and his friend John O'Shea about Katie's murder. He beats the two boys and threatens to kill them if they do not admit their guilt, but when John takes the gun and is about to shoot him, Sean and Powers arrive just in time to stop it. The next morning, Sean tells Jimmy that John and Silent Ray confessed to killing Katie. It was all part of a prank gone violently wrong. The kids got hold of Just Ray's gun and saw a car coming which happened to be Katie's. John aimed the gun just to scare her, but the gun went off by accident. The car veered onto the curb and Katie got out and ran into the park. Silent Ray and John pursued her so she would not tell anyone. The beating Katie received was from Silent Ray, who had a hockey stick. Once she was beaten, John shot her again, killing her. Sean asks Jimmy if he has seen Dave, because he is wanted for questioning in another case, the murder of a known child molester. A distraught Jimmy thanks Sean for finding his daughter's killers, but says, "if only you had been a little faster." Sean then asks Jimmy if he is going to "send Celeste Boyle $500 a month too?" Sean reunites with his wife and his daughter Nora, after apologizing for "pushing her away". Jimmy goes to his wife, Annabeth, and confesses. She comforts him and tells him he is a king and kings always make the right decision. At a town parade, Sean sees Jimmy and mimics firing a gun with his hand, to let Jimmy know he is watching him. Cast * Sean Penn as James "Jimmy" Markum ** Jason Kelly as young Jimmy Markum * Tim Robbins as Dave Boyle ** Cameron Bowen as young Dave Boyle * Kevin Bacon as Detective Sean Devine ** Connor Paolo as young Sean Devine * Laurence Fishburne as Detective Sergeant Whitey Powers * Marcia Gay Harden as Celeste Samarco Boyle * Laura Linney as Annabeth Markum * Tom Guiry as Brendan Harris * Spencer Treat Clark as “Silent Ray” Harris, Jr. * Andrew Mackin as John O'Shea * Emmy Rossum as Katie Markum * Jenny O'Hara as Esther Harris * Kevin Chapman as Val Savage * Adam Nelson as Nick Savage * Robert Wahlberg as Kevin Savage * Cayden Boyd as Michael Boyle * John Doman as Driver * Tori Davis as Lauren Devine * Jonathan Togo as Pete * Will Lyman as FBI Special Agent Birden * Ari Graynor as Eve Pigeon * Ken Cheeseman as Dave's Friend in Bar * Michael McGovern as 1975 reporter * Kevin Conway (uncredited) as Theo * Eli Wallach (uncredited) as Mr. Loonie Production Principal photography took place on location in Boston.Hughes, p.153 Eastwood stated that the three lead actors were his first choices for the roles. Release Reception Mystic River was well received by critics, with the performances and direction receiving widespread acclaim. At the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 88% approval rating based on 204 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 7.77/10. The consensus reads, "Anchored by the exceptional acting of its strong cast, Mystic River is a somber drama that unfolds in layers and conveys the tragedy of its story with visceral power." At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a rating of 84/100 ("universal acclaim") based on 42 reviews. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "Clint Eastwood pours everything he knows about directing into Mystic River. His film sneaks up, messes with your head, and then floors you. You can't shake it. It's that haunting, that hypnotic."Eliot (2009), p.307 The Sun wrote that the film was "a haunting masterpiece and probably Eastwood's best film to date". Box office The film earned $156,822,020 worldwide with $90,135,191 in the United States and $66,686,829 in the international box office, which is significantly higher than the film's $30 million budget. Accolades References Bibliography * * * Ostermann, Eberhard. Mystic River oder die Abwesenheit des Vaters. In: E.O.: Die Filmerzählung. Acht exemplarische Analysen. Munich (Fink) 2007. pp. 29–43. . External links * * * * Category:2003 films Category:2000s crime drama films Category:2000s crime thriller films Category:2000s mystery films Category:2000s psychological drama films Category:2000s psychological thriller films Category:American films Category:American crime drama films Category:American crime thriller films Category:American mystery films Category:American thriller drama films Category:English-language films Category:Best Foreign Film César Award winners Category:Detective films Category:Films about death Category:Films about families Category:Films about pedophilia Category:Films about revenge Category:Films based on American novels Category:Films based on crime novels Category:Films directed by Clint Eastwood Category:Films produced by Clint Eastwood Category:Films with screenplays by Brian Helgeland Category:Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance Category:Films set in 1975 Category:Films set in 2000 Category:Films set in Boston Category:Films shot in Massachusetts Category:Irish-American media Category:Malpaso Productions films Category:Village Roadshow Pictures films Category:Films scored by Clint Eastwood Category:Films based on works by Dennis Lehane Category:Fictional portrayals of the Boston Police Department Category:American neo-noir films